Tag: fitness

In today’s highly inter-interconnected world, it is commonplace to travel frequently, whether it is for work or vacation.

But because you have to go on a trip, this is not an excuse to pig out, enjoy your destination city, and simply leave your fitness routine at home in the process.

So then, here are some tips on how to maintain your fitness routine when you embark on your next trip.

Pack in workout gear

If you pack some workout gear into your luggage, you will be able to do a workout, regardless of whether there is a gym at the hotel you are based at.

For instance, running clothes and shoes, skipping ropes and resistance bands will not take too much extra space in your luggage, and are there if you need to fit in a quick workout during your day.

And with your workout shoes in your luggage, this also serves as a reminder to you to get moving and get that workout in when you reach your destination city and open your luggage up.

Exercise before the day starts

It may be hard to get out of bed after a late night with colleagues, but sometimes this may be the only time that you have during the day to get your workout in. So try and pull yourself out of bed just half an hour early to say, run on the gym treadmill.

If there is no gym in your hotel though, then you can just exercise in your hotel room. There are so many exercises that you can do without leaving your room, such as bodyweight squats and lunges, burpees, mountain climbers and so on, and all of them will work up a good sweat after just 10 to 15 minutes when done correctly.

Wear a fitness tracker

Having a fitness tracker on will make you more aware if you have not gotten your workout in during the course of the day, and you may find yourself more eager to get in that run before the end of the day due to this. As well, when you are exploring your destination city and what it has to offer, a tracker around your wrist, is also a good way to track how many steps you are taking throughout the course of the day.

Attend Fitness Classes

Sometimes it may be good to check out what are the exciting new fitness classes in your destination, perhaps by asking your hotel concierge what they have to offer, or if there are any gyms around that you can check out on a guest pass.

In addition to getting your workout in, this may also be a great way to try out different types of workouts that you usually do not do back at home.

Conclusion

After reading through this article, I hope that these tips have inspired you to keep up your exercise regime when you are travelling, in your bid to stay healthy and fit.

About the author:

Priscilla Chew is the winner of Best Health & Wellness Blog at the 2015 Singapore Blog Awards. Pris is Astavita’s sports ambassador. She attributes her stamina to cope with her running lifestyle with the help of Astavita’s Sports. She hopes her passion for running and sports will inspire other people to exercise on a regular basis for fitness and health. You may follow her on Instagram: prisgooner

Chinese New Year is upon us soon. For many people here in Singapore, the Chinese New Year festival means getting together with our relatives and friends over food and snacks.

However, while it is definitely good to catch up with relatives and friends, we also do need to watch our health, our weight and check that we have enough sleep during Chinese New Year – to avoid tiredness and piling on the kilos.

So here are a few tips that you may want to follow, to look after your health better, during the Chinese New Year.

1) Hydrate

Water has zero calories, making it the ideal beverage to drink more of this, during this festive season.

And additionally, taking in more water than usual, can also help to flush out any waste products accumulated from the constant feasting on the yummy but sinful goodies.
So try to keep a bottle of water with you, at all times.

2) Portion Control

Practising portion control is important during the Chinese New Year season because if you don’t watch how much you are eating, you will very easily put on weight.

So for example, limit yourself to one pineapple tart per household you are visiting, and not one jar of those pineapple tarts.

3) Do not visit on an empty stomach

Try to eat something healthy in between your visiting rounds to fill yourself up, so that you will not be feeling hungry at your relatives’ or friends’ house.

This is because being hungry will only set you up for disaster as you’ll end up chowing down the unhealthy snacks that are available.

4) Work Out Where Possible

Chinese New Year should not be a time to forego your workout regime. Try to work out whenever you find the time to during this season as a way to offset the eating.

If you really do not have time to wake up earlier than usual say, for a run, try and work the exercise into your day.

For instance, park your car further away from the house you are visiting so that you’ll have to walk there. Or take the stairs instead of the lift if you are choosing to take public transport. Getting off the bus or train one stop further away from your destination also helps.

5) Sleep

It may be hard to sleep when you are busy seeing your relatives or friends all day, but try and get as much sleep as possible, even if that means catching cat-naps or sleeping in the car or bus in between visiting rounds.

If you are the designated driver, why not ask your spouse or partner to do part of the driving, so that you can get a nap in the car?

Conclusion

With these tips in mind, I hope that this year, you can have a happy and healthy Chinese New Year festive season, with the opportunity to indulging in good food and catching up with relatives and friends – and at the same time, without emerging from it worse for wear.

About the author:

Priscilla Chew is the winner of Best Health & Wellness Blog at the 2015 Singapore Blog Awards. Pris is Astavita’s sports ambassador. She attributes her stamina to cope with her running lifestyle with the help of Astavita’s Sports. She hopes her passion for running and sports will inspire other people to exercise on a regular basis for fitness and health. You may follow her on Instagram: prisgooner

If you are grappling with trying to lose weight, you are not alone. In fact, according to statistics by the World Health Organisation, worldwide obesity has trebled since 1975. As of 2016, more than 1.9 million adults around the world are overweight and out of these, 650 million are obese.

Overweight and obesity are measured with the Body Mass Index, which is a simple weight for height measurement that is used to classify how fat you are.

So if you are amongst the 1.9 billion overweight adults and you are looking to do something about it, then here area some simple weight loss tips that actually work.

WEAR A BELT

By wearing a belt and tightening it to your natural waistline, you will find that the belt may tend to feel tight after meals. Do not adjust it. The belt feeling tight is a sign that you need to stop eating and put down your utensils.

WEIGH YOURSELF DAILY

This has physiological effects on a person because you do not want to see the numbers on the scale increasing. So by taking your weight every day, you will find yourself taking smaller portions of food or being more active throughout the day, and end up keeping the weight off.

TAKE MORE FATS

This may sound counter intuitive but compared to carbohydrates, fat makes you feel full and keeps you feeling satisfied for longer, so you are less likely to overeat. So if you are feeling hungry about an hour after a meal, this is a sign that you do not have enough fat in your diet. So try and get more healthy fats which are found in nuts, avocados and fish such as salmon.

SHARE YOUR WEIGHT LOSS GOALS IN PUBLIC

By posting your weight loss goals onto social media and telling everyone about it, this will make you feel more motivated and accountable to achieve your targets, and so you are thus more likely to lose weight.

EAT MORE CHILLI

Chilli contains a component called capsaicin, which temporarily speeds up metabolism after ingestion, and thus helps you to burn calories at a faster rate. So why not add chilli to your food more often?

SLEEP WELL

If you are not sleeping well, you are more likely to feel hungrier and as a result, you will make unhealthy food choices. So if you make sure that up you get about seven to eight hours of quality sleep every night, this will help you to control your urges to snack on unhealthy foods such as candies and chocolate.

About the author:

Priscilla Chew is the winner of Best Health & Wellness Blog at the 2015 Singapore Blog Awards. Pris is Astavita’s sports ambassador. She attributes her stamina to cope with her running lifestyle with the help of Astavita’s Sports. She hopes her passion for running and sports will inspire other people to exercise on a regular basis for fitness and health. You may follow her on Instagram: prisgooner

So you have decided to do something about your fitness levels and you have signed up for a gym membership to take action.

But on your maiden visit to the gym, the first thing that you see are buff and toned guys and gals strutting their stuff.

Naturally you may feel self-conscious and clueless in front of them.

Trust me – I know exactly how that feels. I have been in the same situation before.

Here are some tips on how you can eliminate those nerves and feel more comfortable about your first trip to the gym.

1) Join A Class

If you don’t really know what to do at the gym, signing on for a class is a great way to begin. This will get you familiar with how the gym works and you can learn a few exercises while you are at it, too.As well, doing a class may even help you to meet new fitness kakis, whom you can then jio for future gym sessions.

2) Find Workout Buddies

Having workout buddies will help you at the gym, as you can motivate each other, and as a result, you’ll find yourself looking more forward to your gym sessions.

It will help if your buddy is of a similar fitness level to you, too, in order to build your confidence at the gym.

Personally, I have found that having workout buddies definitely helps me to stay more driven to keep up with my fitness sessions, as we hold each other accountable to turn up for the session and then to get the workout done.

3) Get A Trainer

If you need some guidance at the gym, another great way to do so would be to get a personal trainer, who will help you feel comfortable during your time at the gym.

And as well, he or she will also prescribe you with some exercises to do, based on your current fitness levels. This should help you to build some gym confidence also.

4) Have A Plan

Knowing what to do before you set foot in the gym will definitely help you to figure out what to do when you get there.

For example, do you want to do cardio or are you going to head for the strength training equipment?
This will help you to narrow down the type of equipment that you want to use, so that you can head straight there purposefully and confidently.

The last thing you want is to enter the gym and then find yourself walking around aimlessly, uncertain of how to progress.

For me, I always make sure that I have a plan when I head out for my workouts, and this helps me to make the most of the time that I have available to me, in addition to getting my workouts done purposefully and with a goal in mind.

If you are new to strength training, I would suggest that you begin with body weight exercises such as squats and lunges, rather than plumping straight for the weights – and making a fool of yourself in the process.

Conclusion

Now, with these tips in mind, I wish you good luck for your fitness journey ahead and I hope that these tips will help you to feel more purposeful, driven and confident at the gym.

About the author:

Priscilla Chew is the winner of Best Health & Wellness Blog at the 2015 Singapore Blog Awards. Pris is Astavita’s sports ambassador. She attributes her stamina to cope with her running lifestyle with the help of Astavita’s Sports. She hopes her passion for running and sports will inspire other people to exercise on a regular basis for fitness and health. You may follow her on Instagram: prisgooner

You may have a regular exercise routine and a healthy diet, but somehow you are finding that the weight is still not going down.

Here are some simple habits that you can include into your daily routine to increase your rate of fat burn. If you are trying to lose that stubborn 1kg that’s left to get to your ideal weight, then the incorporation of the habits below, into your daily routine, may just be the solution that you might need.

1) Keep Moving Around

By simply moving around – doing movements such as tapping your feet, constantly changing your sitting position or standing and walking around every hour, or even stretching on a regular basis – you will be expending more energy than someone who simply sits still like a log, and therefore will be burning more calories at the same time.

2) Sleep More

By sleeping more, this helps to suppress those cravings for midnight snacks. From my personal experiences, I have found that when I get regular sleep, my body is less likely to crave for sugary snacks at odd hours. But when I am lacking sleep, my body wants that instant sugar boost, so it starts to hanker for sweet or sugary things at weird times of the day. Try to get about eight hours a night – that is the recommended amount of sleep for an adult.

3) Expose yourself to the cold

Try not to wear that sweater next time you are in a cold movie theatre or chilly environment if you want to burn more calories.

Personally I find this to be true from my own experiences. When I am in a cold environment, I tend to get more hungry as compared to when I am somewhere warm. This is a sign that my body is burning more calories when I am cold.

4) Laugh More

Have you ever wondered why you feel as though you need to catch your breath after a laughing fit? I have certainly felt this way – after a few minutes of laughing fit, the feeling that I get is similar to the feeling after completing high intensity exercises for about five minutes. This is a sign that laughing is burning calories. So why not simply do a lot of laughing during the day?

Grinning when you next use the bathroom scale

As you can see, these are quite easy tips to follow, and might just mean the difference between successfully losing that 1kg or 2kg of stubborn fat to reach your goal weight. For a healthy adult, including these fat burn habits into your daily routine, could be the difference between gradual weight gain versus weight maintenance.

So why not try some of these tips, and you will be grinning widely when you stand on the bathroom scale next time.

About the author:

Priscilla Chew is the winner of Best Health & Wellness Blog at the 2015 Singapore Blog Awards. Pris is Astavita’s sports ambassador. She attributes her stamina to cope with her running lifestyle with the help of Astavita’s Sports. She hopes her passion for running and sports will inspire other people to exercise on a regular basis for fitness and health. You may follow her on Instagram: prisgooner

In today’s urban city environment, we all face endless opportunities and seemingly also endless challenges. Living in one of the most exciting places in the world, at least for me, is an absolute thrill simply because this is the place where I can do what I love to do. On this journey there will always be demands and requirements imposed on us that we just have to deal with. And some we actually don’t. On the wrong side of trying to keep a balance between what I absolutely need to do and what is ‘optional’, I can feel pressured, anxious, unclear, uncreative, restless, … in short, stressed. And what I dislike about stress, is that this is a situation that might seem like a never-ending vicious circle. In the past, I would actually be good at stressing myself out even more by getting stuck in a mindset that perpetuates an unbalanced situation.

So how do I tackle stress these days. First of all, and this may sound like a cliché, I have learned the signs of when I am stressed, versus being at peace, or versus being even more stressed than usual. Sometimes you don’t even recognize you went off track, as slow changes over time go unnoticed. So being able to self-diagnose is important. Once I call myself out, I can take a deep breath and tackle the problem.

It’s also key to recognize the difference between short term stress and long term stress, and that solutions for each of them are likely different. You just don’t go on a chill holiday when the house is on fire.

Short term stress I address head on these days by:

• Listing down what’s on my mind, and separate items between what I can control, and what I cannot control. There is no point to stress about things I cannot control, so for these items I rationally come up with a plausible action plan to tackle whatever it is. I say ‘rational’, because emotional bias often is a barrier towards seeing a solution.

• Making a To-Do list. I keep a notebook next to my bed and a task manager app on my phone. A simple thing as writing down a task, and ticking it off later, helps a lot. Even late at night, when my brain is still spinning, noting down my thoughts works very relaxing. I know it’ll be right there when I wake up, so I can stop noodling about it.

• Breaking the mental status quo. I can break the mental barrier that comes with short term stress by making changes in my environment.
– Putting on the music I love helps a lot in creating a positive mindset and boost my energy levels. There is nothing music can’t make better for me. I use headphones, and not speakers, as these allow me to block out my surroundings for a while (no matter where I am), and mentally zoom in without distractions.
– Change my physical surroundings. Going to an open space like an outdoor café, a park, or just sitting at the pool opens up my mind and helps me see things in a different light (literally). I stopped assuming that doing the same thing, at the same place, in the same environment promotes change. Like now, I am not writing this blog at home or in the office. I’m writing from my favorite outdoor coffee shop.
– Eat and drink. I need to keep my brain functioning well by drinking at least 2-3L water throughout the day, and eat to fuel my body. I won’t go into much more detail here and nutrition and hydration is a whole topic in itself.
– Taking a break. Getting my blood flowing always helps in destressing. I feel better after a run, a swim or a bike session. The harder I push, the better I feel. That energy rush, and the endorphin kick, changes my mindset right away.

• Getting help. Face it, we can’t handle the world on our own, so sometimes we just need to ask for help. And yes, as a typical man, I tend to think I have to do stuff on my own, and I will always try first. But eventually I’ll ask for help. But when asking for help, I try to be mindful not to share the problem and offload, but really fix the issue and share the solution.

Tackling long term stress is a whole different ballgame. For now, I make choices that help me become healthier and stronger over time. Whatever the future holds, I will be in a better position to deal with it when I look after myself first. That’s why I do my sport, because when I am physically fit, my mind is also fitter. I look after my diet because when my nutrition is well balanced and healthy, my whole being changes for the better. There are no quick fixes for these 2 areas, so I focus on creating a lifestyle that promotes health first.

About the author:

Bert Grobben is an Ironman finisher and the founder and CEO of a company, on top of being a full-time father. He leads by example to inspire others to reach their goals. Living by the motto “Anything is Possible”, he believes in putting his mind and take the choices to channel his actions and energy towards his passion and goals. Bert is taking Astavita Sports to aid him in his endurance and recovery. You may follow him on Instagram: bert_im

How performance and recovery are of utmost importance for sustaining an active lifestyle

Most student athletes understand the demand placed on having to focus on both academics and juggling training throughout the semester. We train before class, in between class, and after class. Wake up, eat, study, train, sleep, repeat. Yup that’s the life of a student athlete. Honestly being in university is the best time for us to enjoy and excel as athletes before adulting gets to us.

Being a student athlete majoring in sport and exercise science, are two things that really come in hand in hand. Not only did I develop an understanding of the human responses to sport and exercise but I could AND should actually apply this knowledge to how my own performance and recovery can be monitored, analysed and enhanced so that every training that I put myself through is fully optimized. I was kind of like my own guinea pig, putting to practice what I learned on myself.

As we all know, completion of every training session leads to an increase in numerous physiological stressors such as muscle damage, oxidative stress and inflammation. If recovery is inadequate following exercise, it may prevent completion of subsequent training sessions required to drive adaptation and/or improve performance. Inadequate recovery may also increase risks of injury, illness and overtraining. Hence any strategy to reduce the negative effect of exercise-induced muscle damage and/or accelerate the recovery process is greatly welcome for any athlete.

Exercise performance and recovery are two very important factors for all athletes, recreational or elite. With the help of Astavita Sports, a supplement containing AstaReal® astaxanthin, I feel that this year I’ve been able to enhance performance through the benefit of delayed onset of fatigue, really helping me in my endurance sports. Furthermore, what I found even more beneficial was the effect it had on recovery for me. Having gotten into triathlons recently while still pursuing my passion for sport climbing meant that I was juggling four different sports (climbing, swimming, cycling and running.) Most days required a double session of training. One in the morning and one in the evening just to be able to train sufficiently for all four sports. This can sound really exhausting but I grew to love triathlons as much as climbing and I didn’t want to give up either sport, so that just meant I had to manage both of them well.

Lynnette Koh is a sport climber and an aspiring triathlete. Despite a bad fall which resulted in a spinal fracture, she never gave up her love for sports and got up even stronger than before. She believes that the “impossible can be possible” and enjoys challenging herself. Lynnette consumes Astavita Sports to help her improve recovery from muscle fatigue. You may follow her on Instagram: @lynnettekoh

It has been a while since I wrote, and shared with you all how my journey is progressing. It’s been a tough couple of month during which my path towards the 2020 goals has been meandering. But this is real life. The road between to where we are now, and were we want to go is never a straight line, and life will always have its ups and downs. Ok, I am not going to tell you that something major has happened, and that something like an accident knocked me off track. No, the events were much more subtle. Like every one of us, we get distracted from our goals one little step at the time.

So what really happened, is that we got good news. Almost too much of it. Growth in my company Budding Innovations was picking up. We were getting a chance to pitch for exciting contracts, while new partnerships were being forged. And as with any young company, a growing pipeline comes with the challenge of putting infrastructure in place and driving the bottom line financials to actually pay for that. One day at the time we were all working a bit harder, a bit longer. It was all great stuff, and since I was in between races, I didn’t feel the performance pressure and the fact that work was unconsciously driving me to reduce training efficiency.

Keeping that balance was very tough and slowly it tipped in favour of work. Long story short, months had flown by and I suddenly realised that the Trifactor Triathlon was just around the corner. Mentally I was still believing I was still as ready as during IM70.3 Taiwan, but I got a shocking reality check when I pushed training intensity up. My edge was gone, and it felt like I had reversed the clock 2 years. Man, it was so demotivating to notice that the results from all that past hard work had disappeared. Gone. Reset. So in a somewhat desperate attempt to make a turnaround, I started pushing up training intensity dramatically, while keeping up with a manic work schedule. And this was wrong. This extra push caused a downward spiral, simply because I was exhausting myself physically and mentally even further. Pushing only works, when you have proper balance.

So when on the morning of the Trifactor Triathlon I had to decide to drop out, that was a low point. Rationally it was the right thing to do, as I was too sick to start. But mentally and emotionally, I knew it had come to this because I let things slip over the past months

These are moments in life where we need to make interventions. We know we have gone off-track, so we have a choice to turn things around, or stay on the downward spiral. Getting back on track is hard work, because at that point you are physically and mentally drained. So how am I managing my turnaround? Let me share a few tips that are working for me now:

Remove what causes extra stress: Some stress is good, but too much causes me to loose efficiency quickly as I overcompensate. A few weeks after Trifactor Triathlon, I was planning to participate in IM70.3 Bintan. This was weighing on me because I wasn’t aiming to race to just finish and collect yet another medal. I wanted to start to do better. So instead of worrying about getting ready for Bintan, I choose to remove that race from my schedule altogether. Not having to go through “training – taper – race – recovery”, created a stress free period to really focus on a more sustainable recovery and turnaround plan.

Make new future plans, that are realistic. Since Bintan was not going to happen, I looked at the remainder for the year, and looked into making adjustments to the race schedule. Scheduled races are great motivators to work towards, so make sure to set that new realistic goals.

Envision the future, focus on today. Yes, I still aim to qualify for the 2020 IM70.3 World championships. That ultimate goal has not changed. But for now I have to focus on what I can do today to make that physical and mental turnaround first, before pushing ahead full steam towards that goal. This also means being disciplined again on choosing those activities in a day that help me to get there. Keep distractions to a minimum.

Focus on what I CAN do today, not what I cannot. Every day now I make the most of my time. I’ll get my critical work deliverables done, and I’ll focus on the key priorities. I feel better because I got work done. Same for training. I take my current level as it is, and make the best of every training I do. And not surprisingly, after a short while you notice that your good habits are returning. Small improvements work self-motivating, and instead of feeling worse, I started to feel better and more confident again. And after a few weeks, you are back to regular training schedule.

Focus on your diet. Working crazy hours unavoidably leads to a slipping healthy diet. High stress also increases your cortisol hormone level, which causes your body to store more fat easily, which contributes to weight gain (or making it more difficult to lean out). Work will remain stressful, rather than taking drastic actions, I focus on reducing my calorie intake and I’m trying out intermittent fasting. I’m starting to see my weight, and energy levels change for the better already.

Choose to be positive. Happiness is a state of mind, and anytime when life is tough, focusing on the positive side, helps to keep energising yourself and the people around you.

Take your supplements. Throughout the past months, I have continued to take my supplements, and especially AstaVita Sports. Although dietary supplements cannot make up for poor overall choices, for sure they help mitigate some of the damage. My physical condition most likely would have been worse, if it wasn’t for me to keep supplementing. And to be fair, AstaVita Sports has definitely supported me during the long and crazy working hours. It’s not only during and after sport we need recovery. Intense working days are also draining, and you need to recover just as much. So keep supplementing, and add your daily dose of Natural Astaxanthin to your diet.

So, I’m keeping it real. Every day is a new opportunity to do better, and I hope that by sharing the good and the challenges in my journey, you all can find some inspiration on things you can try yourself to drive your own turnaround if you need one.

About the author:

Bert Grobben is an Ironman finisher and the founder and CEO of a company, on top of being a full-time father. He leads by example to inspire others to reach their goals. Living by the motto “Anything is Possible”, he believes in putting his mind and take the choices to channel his actions and energy towards his passion and goals. Bert is taking Astavita Sports to aid him in his endurance and recovery. You may follow him on Instagram: bert_im

With the first IM70.3 race of the 2018 season coming closer, I feel my excitement building. Coming closer to race day, and counting down in my training schedule, brings up lots of different feelings. I really look forward to traveling to Taiwan again as my last time was a few years ago. Back then I just saw office buildings and factories, so I welcome this Trication to also experience Taiwan in a very different way. I feel excited as my body feels stronger than before, and I look forward to starting the race in Taitung to see and feel the progress I made.

Besides the positive vibes, I also feel nervous. While these are the weeks training volume in increasing, I also face the challenge of the workload building as well. My team is doing fantastic work, which is recognised with an increased program load. While business will come first, I do want to keep investing the effort needed to push my performance in IM70.3. So my challenge is how to push harder, without increasing the time I need to spend on training.

My trick is fairly simple. I keep training times the same but push up training intensity as far as I can. In addition, I turn time in the office into effective training time.

Leverage small breaks during office time to get your blood flowing; Many of us have a desk bound job, or are at least spending quite some time sitting down. To keep our bodies healthy (and our minds alert) one should periodically move anyhow. I use small break to walk up and down the stairs a few times. Skip 2 or 3 steps for increased intensity

On days where I only have internal meetings, or with partners I know well, I come to the office wearing my Ankle weights. The first time I wore these, it raised a few eyebrows. But wearing ankle weights all day long, doesn’t sound like much effort at the start, but after 12 hours, you actually burned a lot more calories, and your legs got a workout they normally wouldn’t get. Make it extra tough by walk the stairs while wearing ankle weights.

For my CycleOps bike rides at home, I create tougher training conditions by keeping windows closed and aircon off. On weekends, I train while the sun is out for extra toughness. On days that I only have 1h for a bike session, I wear an altitude mask, to restrict breathing, and train under hypoxic conditions. This makes a short training double as efficient.

Leverage HIIT on run days when a longer session can’t be done. Always make sure to warm up first for 10 – 15minutes. Afterwards, I push my run pace, or bike cadence, as hard as I can, until I reach my maximum heart rate. Afterwards, reduce pace/cadence and let your heart rate recover to Zone 2. Keep cycling through these intervals for as long as time allows, or your body can take it. If you get too tired, cool down slowly. If you feel physical discomfort, stop, hydrate and consumer some easy to digest calories. For me some Pocari is enough, but you may need something more.

As always, enjoy training. A short training session is better than no training session. Every time you push the boundaries, you are making progress.

About the author:

Bert Grobben is an Ironman finisher and the founder and CEO of a company, on top of being a full-time father. He leads by example to inspire others to reach their goals. Living by the motto “Anything is Possible”, he believes in putting his mind and take the choices to channel his actions and energy towards his passion and goals. Bert is taking Astavita Sports to aid him in his endurance and recovery. You may follow him on Instagram: bert_im

As you may know yoga is a big part of my life and I’m a yoga instructor myself. People practice yoga for many reasons, some for health, others for keeping with the trends. However, today I would like to share the five pillars of yoga developed by the Sivananda school of yoga. Embracing these pillars are fundamental to our yoga practice and helps us maintain an overall balanced and healthy lifestyle.

1. Right movement

Right movement is very useful for beginners and helps our joints maintain healthy conditions. Yoga provides movement therefore constant practice combined with other exercise helps maintain these healthy conditions based on our body type, age and state of health.

2. Right breathing

It is important to know when to breathe in and out during your practice. Having the right technique improves mood, lowers anxiety and stress. Therefore, learning the prayanama breath is useful in yoga practice.

3. Right relaxation

Relaxation means the ability to balance activity in your life. Take proper rest when required. This includes resting your emotional and mental state, besides your physical body.

4. Right nutrition

You need to eat right to support your yoga practice. Eating is also a form of practice in which you seek balance and not over indulge. Always striving to attain balance therefore mindful eating can support your practice.

5. Right intention

Right intention refers to cultivating a positive attitude. Equally important is the ability to quieten the unnecessary noise in your head during a practice or even when not practicing yoga but in everyday life even it’s just for a few minutes makes a huge difference.

There you have it, the 5 pillars of yoga. Embrace them and you’ll find that yoga embraces you back with much more. Till my next post, keep practicing.

About the author:

Mona Gill is a busy mum and an entrepreneur. On top of that, she’s a yoga instructor and skincare expert. Mona is Astavita’s beauty and wellness ambassador. She attributes her stamina to cope with her busy lifestyle and still maintain clear complexion to Astavita Healthy Living Antioxidants and Astarism. Mona extols holistic wellness, keeping a healthy lifestyle and beauty from inside out. You may follow her on Instagram: mkglife.